The 70s Guitar
1970–1979
The 1970s were the golden age of guitar. Hard rock, heavy metal, punk, prog and southern rock all exploded at once. The electric guitar was the dominant instrument in popular music, and every week brought a new guitar hero.
Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Queen and Boston represent the breadth of 70s guitar. From Gilmour's melodic solos to Van Halen's tapping revolution, this decade redefined the instrument.
If you want to learn guitar seriously, the 70s is the richest decade to explore.
AC/DC 7
Aerosmith 7
Alice Cooper 2
Bad Company 2
Baker Street 1
Billy Joel 4
Black Sabbath 9
Blue Oyster Cult 3
Blue Öyster Cult 4
Blues Brothers 1
Bob Marley & The Wailers 2
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band 3
Bolling, Claude 1
Boston 6
Cat Stevens 1
Cheap Trick 1
Christopher Cross 1
Commodores 1
Cosma, Vladimir 1
Creedence Clearwater Revival 2
David Bowie 5
Deep Purple 9
Dire Straits 2
Don McLean 1
Dust in the Wind 1
Electric Light Orchestra 2
Elton John 5
Elvis Presley 1
Eric Clapton 4
Fleetwood Mac 5
Foreigner 1
Gary Moore 2
George Harrison 2
Gerry Rafferty 1
Good to Me as I Am to You 1
Harry Nilsson 1
Heart 3
I Love Rock’n’Roll 1
I Shot The Sheriff 1
James Taylor 1
Jimmy Buffett 2
John Carpenter 1
John Denver 4
John Lennon 5
José Feliciano 1
Kikuchi, Shunsuke 1
Kiss 8
Led Zeppelin 26
- 1 All My Love LESSON 1979
- 2 Black Dog TAB 1971
- 3 Bron-Y-Aur Stomp LESSON 1970
- 4 Bron-Yr-Aur LESSON 1975
- 5 Custard Pie LESSON 1975
- 6 D'yer Mak'er TAB 1973
- 7 Friends LESSON 1970
- 8 Going to California TAB 1971
- 9 Hey What Can I Do TAB 1970
- 10 Houses of the Holy LESSON 1975
- 11 Immigrant Song TAB 1970
- 12 Kashmir TAB 1975
- 13 Misty Mountain Hop LESSON 1971
- 14 No Quarter LESSON 1973
- 15 Over the Hills and Far Away TAB 1973
- 16 Rock and Roll TAB 1971
- 17 Rock N Roll TAB 1971
- 18 Since I've Been Loving You TAB 1970
- 19 Stairway to Heaven TAB 1971
- 20 Tangerine LESSON 1970
- 21 Ten Years Gone LESSON 1975
- 22 The Ocean LESSON 1973
- 23 The Rain Song COVER 1973
- 24 The Rover TAB 1975
- 25 Trampled Under Foot LESSON 1975
- 26 When the Levee Breaks LESSON 1971
Lynyrd Skynyrd 7
Maggie May 1
Michael Jackson 1
Michael Schenker Group 1
Molly Hatchet 1
Mountain 2
Moving Waves 1
Neil Young 3
New Morning 1
Ozzy Osbourne 1
Paul McCartney 3
Peter Frampton 1
Pink Floyd 30
- 1 Another Brick in the Wall TAB 1979
- 2 Atom Heart Mother TAB 1970
- 3 Brain Damage LESSON 1973
- 4 Breathe LESSON 1973
- 5 Comfortably Numb TAB 1979
- 6 Dogs TAB 1977
- 7 Eclipse LESSON 1973
- 8 Fat Old Sun TAB 1971
- 9 Goodbye Blue Sky COVER 1979
- 10 Have a Cigar TAB 1975
- 11 Hey You TAB 1979
- 12 In the Flesh? LESSON 1979
- 13 Is There Anybody Out There & Performance TAB 1979
- 14 Is There Anybody Out There? LESSON 1979
- 15 Money TAB 1973
- 16 Mother TAB 1979
- 17 Nobody Home LESSON 1979
- 18 Pigs TAB 1976
- 19 Run Like Hell COVER 1979
- 20 Shine On You Crazy Diamond COVER 1975
- 21 Shine On You Crazy Diamond part II TAB 1975
- 22 Shine On You Crazy Diamond part III TAB 1975
- 23 The Great Gig in the Sky COVER 1973
- 24 The Thin Ice LESSON 1979
- 25 Time TAB 1973
- 26 Time Guitar Solo Lesson - Famous Solos LESSON 1973
- 27 Us and Them LESSON 1973
- 28 Welcome to the Machine LESSON 1975
- 29 Wish You Were Here TAB 1975
- 30 Young Lust LESSON 1979
Queen 14
- 1 39 LESSON 1975
- 2 Bohemian Rhapsody TAB 1975
- 3 Don't Stop Me Now TAB 1978
- 4 Don't Stop Me Now Guitar Solo Lesson LESSON 1978
- 5 Fat Bottomed Girls LESSON 1978
- 6 Keep Yourself Alive TAB 1973
- 7 Killer Queen LESSON 1974
- 8 Love of My Life LESSON 1975
- 9 Somebody to Love TAB 1976
- 10 Stone Cold Crazy LESSON 1974
- 11 Tie Your Mother Down LESSON 1976
- 12 We Are the Champions COVER 1977
- 13 We Will Rock You LESSON 1977
- 14 You're My Best Friend TAB 1975
Rick Derringer 1
Robin Trower 2
Rod Stewart 1
Rory Gallagher 1
Rush 3
Sails Of Charon 1
Santana 3
Scorpions 7
Sex Pistols 1
She's Gone 1
Stairway To Heaven 2
Steve Miller Band 1
Still Loving You 1
Supertramp 2
Talking Heads 1
Ten Years After 1
The Allman Brothers Band 2
The Beatles 6
The Doobie Brothers 3
The Doors 1
The Eagles 2
The Hollies 2
The Rolling Stones 3
The Romantics 1
Thin Lizzy 2
Tom Petty 1
Van Halen 21
- 1 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love TAB 1978
- 2 Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love TAB 1978
- 3 Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love - Famous Riffs LESSON 1978
- 4 Atomic Punk LESSON 1978
- 5 Beautiful Girls LESSON 1979
- 6 Bottoms Up! LESSON 1979
- 7 D.O.A. LESSON 1979
- 8 Dance the Night Away LESSON 1979
- 9 Eruption TAB 1978
- 10 Feel Your Love Tonight LESSON 1978
- 11 I'm The One TAB 1978
- 12 Ice Cream Man LESSON 1978
- 13 Jamie's Cryin' TAB 1978
- 14 Light Up the Sky LESSON 1979
- 15 Little Dreamer LESSON 1978
- 16 On Fire LESSON 1978
- 17 Runnin' with the Devil TAB 1978
- 18 Somebody Get Me a Doctor LESSON 1979
- 19 Spanish Fly LESSON 1979
- 20 Women in Love... LESSON 1979
- 21 You Really Got Me TAB 1978
Whitesnake 2
Williams, John 1
Zamfir, Gheorghe 1
ZZ Top 2
Guitar in the 1970s
The 70s is the decade where every major guitar genre either started or matured. Led Zeppelin perfected hard rock and planted the seeds of metal. Black Sabbath invented heavy metal. Pink Floyd made guitar solos feel like poetry. Queen layered guitars into orchestral arrangements. And in 1978, Van Halen's debut album changed lead guitar technique overnight with the tapping solo on Eruption.
Meanwhile, punk stripped everything back. The Ramones and Sex Pistols proved you didn't need technique to make powerful music. And Boston, Kansas and Rush built complex, multi-layered guitar arrangements that pushed the boundaries of production.
Gear That Defined the Decade
The Marshall stack became the standard for live rock. The MXR Phase 90 and flanger became essential effects. Gibson Les Pauls dominated hard rock, while Strats held their ground in blues and funk. The Mesa/Boogie Mark I introduced high-gain preamp distortion, changing amp design forever.
Key Genres of the 70s
Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, Southern Rock, Punk Rock. Each genre represents a different philosophy of what guitar could be.